Cattle guard



June 8, 1937. MWH' 1 2,082,984

CATTLE GUARD Filed Oct. 20, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l 4/ l/AE; w

Jun 8, 1937'. s, sMlTH 2,082,984

CATTLE GUARD- Filed OCt. 20, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5'. [1.71210 Sin/ilk Patented June 8, I937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CATTLE GUARD S. Irma Smith, Springfield, Mo. Application October 20, 1936, Serial No. 106,679 7 Claims. (Cl. 256- 14) "This invention relates to cattle guards, and ingeneral, aims to provide improvements in the cattle guard disclosed in Patent No. 1,314,910 which issued to me on September 2, 1919. While the said patented cattle guard is of proven utility, because of its construction it is difiicult to install on a curved railroad track or when there are two or more tracks especially if of different elevation. Hence when installing the patented in cattle guard, sometimes half A frames are placed between each track, which is objectionable as a hazard is thus created.

The present invention provides a cattle guard which is so made that it maybe installed under '15 a curved as well as a straight track and may be built up to provide a continuous guard for any number of adjacent tracks; in short, the invention provides a universal cattle guard, having all the utility of the patented guard with none 20 of its drawbacks.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and showing a preferred embodiment of the invention,-

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the cattle guard, shown 5 installed beneath a straight section of track;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

30 Fig. 4 is a perspective view of several of the members which, when connected together, make up the body of the cattle guard;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of several of the members, showing how their angles and relative po- 35 sitions may be varied;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of one of themembers; and

Fig. '7 is a section on line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the

40 improved cattle guard employs the usual or standard A-frames H] which need not be described and the usual ridged or peaked. wooden strips II which are nailed to the tops of the ties l2. The rails I3 of a single track are also shown 45 so that the position of the improved cattle guard when installed may be understood.

Themain body of the cattle guard comprises a series of baffies each of which is adapted to fit m the space between two adjacent railroad ties.

Each baflle comprises a plurality of units or members which are best illustrated in Figs. 4-7, inclusive. As the baflles are made up of a plurality of more or less alined units or members connected 55 together, each bafile is of indefinite length and may be extended beneath two or more tracks if desired. p

Referring particularly to Fig. 4, each baffle comprises a series of flanged plates which are generally U-shaped, that is each flange plate 5" comprises an end plate [4 integral with flanges I5, the end plates M adapted to stand inclined relative to the vertical when the plates are assembled to form a bafile. The upper edges of each of the end plates l4 may be serrated as shown 10 at Hi to make it more difiicult for cattle to walk upon them. Each of the flanges I5 is preferably cut away as indicated at a and thus integral with each'fiange '15 there is a pair of arms I! and I8 whichextend horizontally and which 1%- lie in thesame plane with the normally vertical flanges l5. Preferably the arms I! and I8 are slightly spreadapart so that the plate members may be nested, which is a great convenience in shippingand storing said members. This slight 2O spreading of the arms I! and I8 also facilitates the attachment of the members end to end as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Attachment is preferably effected by means of upper and lower bolts l9 which are received in bolt holes and 2-! respectively in the upper and lower arms I1, l8, and which pass through holes 22 and 23 in the flanges l5 adjacent the end plates M. The arms of each plate member are outside of the adjacent plate member and the bolts are passed first through said arms and then through holes adjacent the end plates M, as shown, thus connecting the U-shaped members in a longitudinal series to form the complete bafiie. The height of the plate members is approximately the thickness of a railroad tie and the width of each plate member is substantially the distance between two such ties, so that the baflle formed from a plurality of plate members substantially fills the space between each tie. See Figs. 1 and 3.

Preferably the plate members are made of sheet steel galvanized for protection against the weather, initially of the form shown in Fig. 6. Afterwards they may be bent into the shape shown in Fig. 4.

The described construction permits the plates to be directly alined with each other; that is, to form a continuous straight member, as shown in Fig. 4, or if desired adjacent plate members may be set at angles to each other, as shown at the left end of Fig. 5. This permits the baflles to be longitudinally curved so as to be adaptable to a curved track which always has one rail higher than the other. If the baffles are to be placed under two tracks having rails lying at different elevations, some of the plate members may be offset relative to each other, as clearly shown at the right end of Fig. 5. This peculiar adaptability of the plate members to different conditions found in the field is the principal improvement provided by the present invention. The feature of nesting the plate members, which when nested may be bound into bundles, is also an important advance over the construction shown in the aforesaid patent.

It will be clear, from the foregoing, that the cattle guard of the invention may be installed under any track or series of tracks, and when so installed, will bar the movement of cattle over it as efifectively as does the patented cattle guard. A further advantage is that the members which are assembled to make up the body of the cattle guard are standardized, and may be nested to make up bundles for economical shipment, handling and storage. While I have shown-the members as provided with a series of bolt holes, for the adjustments described above, obviously they may have arcuate slots or other known mechanical connecting means which permit disalinement of adjacent connected members.

Obviously the present invention may be embodied in several forms, neither described nor shown, though within the scope of the appended claims.

7 Having describedv a preferred embodiment of the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v p

1. An article of manufacture comprising a unitary member which may be assembled with other like members to form the body of a cattle guard, said member comprising a plate which is adapted to stand at an angle to the vertical and which has a thin upper edge; a pair of flanges integral with the plate and extending parallel to each other, being vertical when the plate is in its normal position; and means on the flanges to facilitate connection, ,by means of bolts or the like, of two or more members to each other.

2. The invention according to claim 1' wherein the flanges are each cut away to provide two horizontally extending arms, and the means to facilitate connection comprise a series of holes in said arms and in the flanges adjacent the plates, said holes being so arranged as to permit angular adjustment or offsetting of two connected members.

3. A cattle guard comprising, in combination, a plurality of bafiies each consisting solely of a plurality of flanged plates connected together; said bailies each being of a width approximating the distance between two standard railroad ties and being adapted to be set between said ties and being of a length determined by the number of flanged plates which are connected together; a

plurality of ridged wooden strips secured to the tops of all the ties which are adjacent said baflies; and A-frames secured at either end of the guard to the ends of said bafiles.

4. The invention according to claim 3 wherein the flanged plates are so constructed and arranged that they may be offset or set at acute angles relative to each other or may be alined end to end with each other and secured by simple connecting elements which fix them in their set positions.

5. The invention according to claim 3 wherein the flanged plates have end faces which lie at an angle to the vertical, and the flanges thereof are substantially vertical and are cut away to provide a pair of arms extending horizontally from each flange, the extremities of said arms being adapted to embrace and be connected to the adjacent flanged plate near its end face.

. 6. In .a cattle guard comprising the usual A-frames and the usual ridged wooden strips attached to the tops of the ties, that improvement which consists in the provision of baffles adapted to be set beneath the rails and between the ties; said baffles each being extensible and contractible longitudinally by adding or subtracting one or more like members which are connected together end for end to make up the complete baflle; each member having a height and width respectively substantially equal to the thickness of a tie and the distance between two ties.

7. The invention according to claim 6 wherein the members are flanged plates having means for adjustably connecting them to each other to permit adjacent members to be angular, offset or alined with each other.

S. IRMA SMITH. 

